Jumbo-Vismas’ Van Aert, who has three Tour de France stage victories, was awarded the win by centimetres after officials studied television footage following Pidcock’s late effort.
“It was really tight. Usually, a long sprint is good for me,” Van Aert said. “I didn’t dare to believe, but the race organisers came to see me to tell (me) I had won.”
He also claimed revenge for Pidcock’s Brabantse Pijl success on Wednesday, when the 21-year-old secured his first triumph for Ineos Grenadiers.
“I left it too late. I should have gone earlier,” Pidcock said.
“I thought I was the quickest, it’s frustrating to lose by such a margin.”
Bora-Hansgrohe rider Maximilian Schachmann was third, two seconds behind after 216 kilometres of the opening Ardennes classic.
With one 16km lap left, Van Aert, Pidcock and Schachmann were among seven riders in front.
Six kilometres later, Van Aert, Pidcock and Schachmann had a lead of 20 seconds over a chasing group led by Mauri Vansevenant.
Racing into the final kilometre near the town of Valkenberg, just to the east of Maastricht, they were left to fight for the win.
Van Aert broke and seemed to be closing in on the race, before Pidcock’s late push caused debate about the winner.
But the 26-year-old was given the victory to add to his Gent-Wevelgem win in March.
The second classic in the region, La Fleche Wallone, takes place on Wednesday before the prestigious Liege-Bastogne-Liege four days later.
Results
1. Wout van Aert (BEL/Jumbo), 5 hrs 03 min 27 sec, 2. Tom Pidcock (GBR/INE) same time, 3. Maximilian Schachmann (GER/BOR) at 2sec, 4. Michael Matthews (AUS/BIK) same time, 5. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) s.t, 6. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA/DEC) s.t, 7. Kristian Sbaragli (ITA/ALP) s.t, 8. Matej Mohoric (SLO/BAH) s.t, 9. Michal Kwiatkowski (POL/INE) s.t, 10. Tosh Van der Sande (BEL/LOT) s.t.
Cavendish wins sprint as Diaz takes Tour of Turkey
Mark Cavendish finished off the Tour of Turkey yesterday with a fourth victory in eight stages while Jose Manuel Diaz hung on to overall victory by one second.
British veteran Cavendish, who rides for Deceuninck-Quick-Step, landed the final blow in his week-long sprint duel with Jasper Philipsen, bursting past the young Belgian in the closing 100 metres of a 160.3km final stage from Bodrum to Kusadasi.
The 35-year-old Cavendish, who before this race had not won since February 2018, grabbed the second, third and fourth stages in Turkey with Philipsen second each time.
The Belgian hit back to take stage six, when Cavendish missed the podium, and stage seven, with Cavendish third.
Spaniard Jose Manuel Diaz, who rides for Delko, edged Australian Jay Vine to win the fifth stage and collect precious bonus seconds. Despite the efforts of Vine’s depleted Alpecin team, including Philipsen, yesterday, he could not collect the bonus he needed to overhaul Diaz’s tiny lead.
The BB Hotels team withdrew from the race before the final stage after a positive Covid-19 test in its team. The American Rally team had done the same on Friday morning. (AFP)
Mark Cavendish